The way I see it, you just pissed him off by refusing his very reasonable request to join you. If it had been me I'd have thought you quite rude for your attitude. If you didn't want to play with him, then why didn't you just let him pass and eliminate any possible bad feelings right from the start. Not that I condone his hitting into you, but you set the scenario in motion when you denied his request.

I agree on all counts....plus, saevel25 cut in front of a guy making the turn. Bad manners on his part. Shame on him. I would have asked to play through immediately on 10 tee if an idiot cut in front of me at the turn and refused my company. saevel25 obviously wasn't playing fast enough to warrant "CUTTING".......if you cut somebody off at the turn and refuse to pair-up........you better create some space and haul @ss buddy or you are looking for trouble.

I agree on all counts....plus, fourputt cut in front of a guy making the turn. Bad manners on his part. Shame on him. I would have asked to play through immediately on 10 tee if an idiot cut in front of me at the turn and refused my company. fourputt obviously wasn't playing fast enough to warrant "CUTTING".......

Clarification - it wasn't me (Fourputt). I was just responding to the OP. I work as a starter, and I know better.

Honestly it was a nice day out, i just wanted to enjoy the day, i really just find it peaceful to just play golf and be out there on a golf hole by yourself. Its very spiritual for me, and very calming.

I don't really blame you, sometimes wanting to play alone. But if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.

But I've got to call you on the part of your quote above ... seriously?

I am a very personal person. I don't like to put myself out there to people i don't know. Honestly it was a nice day out, i just wanted to enjoy the day, i really just find it peaceful to just play golf and be out there on a golf hole by yourself. Its very spiritual for me, and very calming. I can understand that, hey your by yourself lets play. Today i didn't feel like it. Now i have been stuck betweeen groups, and joined up with a twosome or threesome that has caught up to me before. But honestly i like playing golf by myself.

I understand that. I used to play at my old home course by myself a lot in the evenings much for the same reasons. Good practice time to work on things too. If the starter sent you off the back, then you were good to go unless he indicated you should wait for the group making the turn or they were making the turn and he didn't realize it. If you wanted to be by yourself, perhaps just saying "Normally I'd love to, but I'm trying to work out some issues in my game. If you catch up you are welcome to play through." His deliberate and intentional act of hitting in on you was foolish and dangerous. I hope you informed the course personnel.

Mr. Desmond beat me to the punch about loosing the phone. 3 or 4 weekends a year I get the oppertunity to play unlimited golf at a Navy Submarine Base. I figure I've played somthing like 80 rounds of nine on this course. One time I started catching up to a threesome, and one gentleman was

"all about his cell phone". It began to get annoying, and they finally asked me to join them or play through. Since I knew I would have to walk off soon for lunch, I opted to just join them. Durring introductions, turns out the gentleman was active duty, his teenage son playing for his second time, and a cousin out on "leave'. Also it turned out that it was his first time playing with a golf couse App. on his phone... Hence the cell phone fixation.

The Dad and the cousin were actually very good Golfers.

Hypocrite alert: I made it very clear that my cell phone would in fact be ringing soon, as my girlfriend works as a Navy Reservist on those particular weekends. Since I am not married to her I have no Military I.D card. On any Base I can pay for Golf & I can pay for Bowling, but with out an I.D. I can't even buy myself something to eat, and I'm not interested in Bowling much...

We had a great time for two and a half holes, and then she called me for lunch, and I had to walk away.

By the way on Christmas Eve, I pulled out a small box with a ring in it, and asked her to become Mrs. HazardMagnet.

The ring looks very nice on her finger, and she owns a nice set of Clubs.

I have to say that a person who insists on playing on his own, rejects reasonable requests from others and holds up the field and then strolls around looking at his phone wouldn't be rated too highly in my neck of the woods.

If you want to play on your own, go to the practice tee, unless there's none else around.

And if someone asks you to play with them politely accept the invitation.

Interesting that you claim a "score" whilst playing as a single, too.

So your saying i must acquiesce request his request. Even if someone acts politely to play, i still have a right to say no. I have never heard of any rules, or code saying that you must pair up. I even had a person play in a group before for one hole, and then just go ahead of us. What about him, must he be tied to our group now.

Yes i can post a score, because i take golf seriously. Apparently you have a hard time trusting people unless your watching them like a hawk.

I too enjoy playing by myself as it is indeed very spiritual and opens one up to all kinds of reflection etc...unfortunately there are those who not only dont see this aspect of the game but INSIST that it must be played by the most raucous and overtly loutish foursomes concievable....methinks that the foursome is one of the worst ideas ever introduced into the game ..as it distracts from the game itself for everyone..especially those not in that grouping...

I have to say that a person who insists on playing on his own, rejects reasonable requests from others and holds up the field and then strolls around looking at his phone wouldn't be rated too highly in my neck of the woods.

If you want to play on your own, go to the practice tee, unless there's none else around.

And if someone asks you to play with them politely accept the invitation.

Interesting that you claim a "score" whilst playing as a single, too.

So your saying i must acquiesce request his request. Even if someone acts politely to play, i still have a right to say no. I have never heard of any rules, or code saying that you must pair up. I even had a person play in a group before for one hole, and then just go ahead of us. What about him, must he be tied to our group now.

Yes i can post a score, because i take golf seriously. Apparently you have a hard time trusting people unless your watching them like a hawk.

You talk about enjoying the day, playing a liesurely round, golfing alone being a spirtual experience, being a personal person (perhaps you meant you're "not a personable person"), and checking your phone. Perhaps if you'd focused less on enjoying the beautiful weather and more on "creating as large a gap as possible between you and the player whose request you rebuffed", and generally "hauling ass" as was mentioned by another poster, then this incident might never have taken place.

My comments are blunt because you've stated several times in the past that you have every right to play at whatever pace you choose and I even recall something to the effect that when someone pushes you or makes you feel rushed (especially in a rude way - such as asking to join up when they feel they've been cut in front of) that you'll slow your game down even more just to piss them off. Maybe I have you confused with someone else though, so accept my aplogy if I've misattributed previous statements.

You did nothing wrong. If the starter let you out in front of someone, and you kept a hole in front of them all the way to the 18th tee, noboby has a reason to complain. I don't even know why people bother asking about etiquette questions here. You just get a bunch of guys who try and nitpick about anything and everything. Oh, You can't post your score!! You cheat if you play by yourself! You looked at, no you carried a phone onto a golf course! Don't know why I even read threads like this.

So your saying i must acquiesce request his request. Even if someone acts politely to play, i still have a right to say no. I have never heard of any rules, or code saying that you must pair up. I even had a person play in a group before for one hole, and then just go ahead of us. What about him, must he be tied to our group now.

Yes i can post a score, because i take golf seriously. Apparently you have a hard time trusting people unless your watching them like a hawk.

My point is that if you're playing on your own, you're practicing, as far as I'm concerned. Others disagree, that's fine.

As was pointed out elsewhere, the title of your thread is somewhat ironic, as it refers to you.

If you had your own golf course, you could play on your own and never have to worry about anyone else.

Unfortunately, what you are demanding as a right is the same as doing any other activity where you basically have to share, but you don't want to share.

Normally, if you wanted to play on your own you'd wait your turn. And that turn would be at the very end of the field. You have zero standing in the field.

You were clearly not playing as fast as you thought you were AND, you're "checking your phone" while people are behind you waiting. "Check" you bleedin' phone when you've finished. You're playing golf.

You are confused because you think that others are demanding that you do something you don't want to do, but you don't seem to get that in this circumstance you don't actually have that right. You have to fit in with what everyone else needs to do. In a crowded room, do you sit in the middle of a three seat sofa and claim that you enjoy space around you and you don't enjoy crowds or sitting next to others, while there are people wanting to sit down? Same thing. It's not all about you.

What you may not understand is that if you want to play on your own, you tee off before everyone else or after everyone else unless you want situations like this to arise. Otherwise, show up and be prepared to behave in such a way that doesn't appear selfish and irritating to others.

Part of taking golf seriously is the undersatnding that there is a social dimension to it - and that a stranger asking to play with you is one of the beauties of the whole experience. Head off to the practice tee if that unsettles you.

I practice when i am playing with a group. Its in my preshot routine. I developed some drills i do in my preshot to help me make the shot i want. Its a way for me to gain practice time while i play. DiMarco use to do this when he won the masters, he would draw the club back and stop, so he had the right position.

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Unfortunately, what you are demanding as a right is the same as doing any other activity where you basically have to share, but you don't want to share.

Normally, if you wanted to play on your own you'd wait your turn. And that turn would be at the very end of the field. You have zero standing in the field.

HUH??? Explain this to me. I understand this if the golf course was packed, if sticking a single would disrupt the flow, if that was the case i would team up with another person, twosome or threesome. But this golf course was nearly empty. The next group infront of me was about 5 holes ahead, and there was no one behind the guy behind me. That guy didn't catch me once. Like i said, if he was playing faster than me, then he had the right to come up to the tee box and ask to pass through, and i would say yes. I don't like to hold people up, but with my game and the speed of which i play, that doesn't happen often. If there is no one infront of me, i can finish 9 holes in an hour or less. Like i said, i understand he might have been ticked off because i was being rude in his eyes. Like i have the right to be ticked off because he tried to hit me with a golf ball. Like i said, i will no know that if someone was on the 9th tee, i will wait and let them play through first, but i will not stop playing a round of golf by myself. To me its still competative, i play it were it lies, i putt everything out, i play by the rules of golf. To say otherwise means your just judgemental and like to be ignorant.

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You were clearly not playing as fast as you thought you were AND, you're "checking your phone" while people are behind you waiting. "Check" you bleedin' phone when you've finished. You're playing golf.

Yes i was checking my phone, as i walked to my golf ball. Is there a waist of time there. Tell me what else i could be doing to speed up my game when i am walking between shots. Let me know and i will make sure to incorporate that into my game. If there is some magical way to get me from the tee box to my 2nd shot, let me know. Otherwise, don't make an ignorant comment. That guy still had no right to complain. If i happen to slow myself down by a few seconds per shot, he still didn't catch me. So whats the problem. What if my cell phone had a gps on it. I got an app for it. Your going to complain then that i was checking my phone, a smartphone can be a useful tool on the golf course. Heck maybe the cellphone is were i keep my score, or stats. Maybe i was putting in that i hit a GIR, or i hit a fairway. But i if i did that on a score card would you complain i was taking to long, hell i had to put pen to scorecard, heck i might write to slow. (note the sarcasm)

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You are confused because you think that others are demanding that you do something you don't want to do, but you don't seem to get that in this circumstance you don't actually have that right. You have to fit in with what everyone else needs to do. In a crowded room, do you sit in the middle of a three seat sofa and claim that you enjoy space around you and you don't enjoy crowds or sitting next to others, while there are people wanting to sit down?

No one demanded anything, he asked, i said no. If your going to ask a question in which you don't want to have a certain response, then don't ask the question. On an open course, with no one out there but a few groups, were there will be no chance of messing up the pace, i see no problem with playing by myself. Hell i have been on a course, were my dad and I were the first ones off. A twosome rides past us on the first hole to tee off on the second. They skipped the first hole, didn't ask, just went ahead. My dad and I were not pissed off, we didn't rush to launch drivers at them, we let them play through. They thought they were faster, yet we caught them on some holes, but we never bothered them or pressured them. We were fine with it. The problem is that some people think there entitled to having there way, so they expect a yes when they get a no, then they do something stupid, which could have hurt me. I would say my response was more right than his. If its a crowded room, and i took a space on the couch, i would not reserve the seats around me for myself just because i enjoy the space. Like i said, if it the golf course was crowded, then i would have joined up. I do not infringe upon the pace of the golf course. The starter said i could go off the back. I did not push anyone or hold anyone up. That situation of the couch does not apply to the situation of yesterday.

Obviously, nobody disagrees that what he did on the last hole was wrong. However, I don't understand how he could drive one over your head on 18 while you were walking to your ball if you were so far ahead of him the whole time. Did he skip a hole just to try and hit you?

I can understand wanting to play by yourself but I think you helped create the problem from the start by just telling him no. He was walking up 9 as you passed him up 10, so you were an entire hole ahead of him, right? Why not just say, something like "Normally I would, but today I'm in a hurry" or something like that. Or if you weren't in a hurry, then tell him he can play through if he wants.

Both of you are partly to blame for the misunderstanding, in my opinion.

If this was on the freeway, he would be the guy trying to merge, you're the guy who sees his blinker and could slow down to let him in, but instead you make him slow down and squeeze in behind you. He's pissed so he speeds up to catch you just to give you the bird.

Lets see, on the first par 5, hole 14, i was near the green when he was walking to his second shot. I was walking down number 16 fairway as he was walking to his 2nd shot on number 15. He had a good drive on number 17, i think he caught up on 17. But i hit my 2nd shot on 18. 18 is a 320 yard par 4, all down hill. I hit a 5 iron off the tee. As i was approaching the green a ball flew above me, i heard the thud. Thats when i turned around and was really pissed. Like i said, he never had to wait on a shot, he never pushed me, but he did seem to hurry so he could try to exact revenge on the last hole.

I guess i could have come up with some white lie to pad his ego, but i am usually pretty blunt. But i am not saying i acted like a saint. I definetly didn't act calm, i should have just brushed him off, but i guess he got what he wanted when he drove the ball into me, pissed off. IF he didn't do that, but just came up to me after the round, i would probaby given him the cold shoulder, or just apologized to difuse the situation. But i don't like having a 100+ mph golf ball flying over my head on purpose.

OK then, it all really comes down to how you said no. If you were more polite, then I would say he is 100% in the wrong. As it is, you probably could have diffused the situation before it started with a less blunt response. Either way, responding to somebody being rude by doing something that could kill him is a tad extreme.

I have been standing next to a friend who got hit in the head by a drive and that was the scariest sound.

Had a similar run-in couple weeks ago. Invited a co-worker to join my friend and I for a round, this was his first time playing. I'm always aware of pace of play and letting others play through if the situation calls for it. Well, we tee off on #1 with nobody behind us. New guy is doing the typical things - topping, whiffing, chunking - so I keep an eye behind us the whole way. We get to the green and then I notice a threesome teeing off. We putt out and walk to the 2nd tee where I watch them take their approach shots. We tee off and, because #2 is a longer hole, they catch up to us, waiting on their approach shots while we're on the green. Ok, we'll let them run through. Well, we stand by the 3rd tee box and I watch one of the guys blade the crap out of his shot over the green. I tell my buddy to tee off - we can let them through on #4, a par 3. Well, by the time we putt out on #4, they are barely arriving to the #4 tee box. I had the new guy pick up his ball quite a bit on bad tee shots or topped second shots. We play on and don't have any close encounters...until #14.

This is a par 5 with the 2nd shot either a layup or a carry over a river. On the tee box I actually watch these guys tee off on the hole before us, a longish par 3. So we were well ahead of them. The three of us tee off, reach our 2nd shots and hit, then start walking across the bridge for our 3rd. Get onto the green and putt out, all the while I'm not seeing these guys behind us at all. We walk over to #15 a short par 3. While standing on the tee box getting ready my buddy yells "Watch out!" and a golf ball nails my Clicgear cart and just misses my face on the rebound, ball comes to rest on our tee box. I spin around and this threesome is on the other side of the river hitting. I'm heated now because 1) there was never a FORE! warning from any of the three guys and 2) I was very in-tune with making sure we were at a good pace. My buddy hits his tee shot and then the group drives up: I'm not a confrontational person at all and my friend knows this so he opens up "Hey, how about a little heads up next time." Guy responds with "I never saw it." He goes on to hit his ball of our tee box then says "You know, proper etiquette would be to let us play through on the front nine." Uh oh. I respond with "I've been watching you guys all round, you haven't been close to us nor have you had to wait for us." Then my buddy replies with "How about you yell fore next time?" The guy's playing partner says "He didn't see it!" and I reply "So, what about the two of you? How come you didn't say anything?" No reply. My buddy won't let it go he gets into the guy's face and tell him to walk away. And he did so we played on and finished.

I really found no fault with our approach at all, especially when it comes down to the fact that 1) we were two shots ahead of this group all day, 2) we walked by them a few times going to the next tee on the front nine and they said nothing, not even paying any mind to us and, 3) two wrongs don't make a right. I don't tolerate my group hitting into slower groups and I certainly don't take kindly to those who do it to us. I think its a chicken s#&t way to handle things. So, to the OP, I would say to just let it go and don't worry about it. I check my phone all the time when I'm walking between shots - nobody can tell me what to do as long as I'm walking to my ball and not impeding pace of play. People posting here regarding that part need to step back. Its not like he's standing behind his ball and not taking a swing while looking at his phone. And I, too, like to play rounds alone sometimes so I definitely can put myself in your shoes regarding that point.

Had a similar run-in couple weeks ago. Invited a co-worker to join my friend and I for a round, this was his first time playing. I'm always aware of pace of play and letting others play through if the situation calls for it. Well, we tee off on #1 with nobody behind us. New guy is doing the typical things - topping, whiffing, chunking - so I keep an eye behind us the whole way. We get to the green and then I notice a threesome teeing off. We putt out and walk to the 2nd tee where I watch them take their approach shots. We tee off and, because #2 is a longer hole, they catch up to us, waiting on their approach shots while we're on the green. Ok, we'll let them run through. Well, we stand by the 3rd tee box and I watch one of the guys blade the crap out of his shot over the green. I tell my buddy to tee off - we can let them through on #4, a par 3. Well, by the time we putt out on #4, they are barely arriving to the #4 tee box. I had the new guy pick up his ball quite a bit on bad tee shots or topped second shots. We play on and don't have any close encounters...until #14.

This is a par 5 with the 2nd shot either a layup or a carry over a river. On the tee box I actually watch these guys tee off on the hole before us, a longish par 3. So we were well ahead of them. The three of us tee off, reach our 2nd shots and hit, then start walking across the bridge for our 3rd. Get onto the green and putt out, all the while I'm not seeing these guys behind us at all. We walk over to #15 a short par 3. While standing on the tee box getting ready my buddy yells "Watch out!" and a golf ball nails my Clicgear cart and just misses my face on the rebound, ball comes to rest on our tee box. I spin around and this threesome is on the other side of the river hitting. I'm heated now because 1) there was never a FORE! warning from any of the three guys and 2) I was very in-tune with making sure we were at a good pace. My buddy hits his tee shot and then the group drives up: I'm not a confrontational person at all and my friend knows this so he opens up "Hey, how about a little heads up next time." Guy responds with "I never saw it." He goes on to hit his ball of our tee box then says "You know, proper etiquette would be to let us play through on the front nine." Uh oh. I respond with "I've been watching you guys all round, you haven't been close to us nor have you had to wait for us." Then my buddy replies with "How about you yell fore next time?" The guy's playing partner says "He didn't see it!" and I reply "So, what about the two of you? How come you didn't say anything?" No reply. My buddy won't let it go he gets into the guy's face and tell him to walk away. And he did so we played on and finished.

I really found no fault with our approach at all, especially when it comes down to the fact that 1) we were two shots ahead of this group all day, 2) we walked by them a few times going to the next tee on the front nine and they said nothing, not even paying any mind to us and, 3) two wrongs don't make a right. I don't tolerate my group hitting into slower groups and I certainly don't take kindly to those who do it to us. I think its a chicken s#&t way to handle things. So, to the OP, I would say to just let it go and don't worry about it. I check my phone all the time when I'm walking between shots - nobody can tell me what to do as long as I'm walking to my ball and not impeding pace of play. People posting here regarding that part need to step back. Its not like he's standing behind his ball and not taking a swing while looking at his phone. And I, too, like to play rounds alone sometimes so I definitely can put myself in your shoes regarding that point.

Even if in reality it was exactly like that, most people are smart enough to realize it nobody was condoning the guy hitting at the OP..